Process of flanging sheet metal



Mai'ch 4, 19301 J. A. M GREGOR PROCESSOF immune SHEET METAB- Filed umn T, 1928 2 Sheets-Shut 1 fi d. W 63w W A TTORNE 5 March 4, 1930.

J. A. M GREqoR PROCESS OF rmmmc; SHEET METAL Filo'd larch. 7-. 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY S ly large'qua-ntities.

7' 1 Patented-Mane, 1930 I o JAMES A. McGRneoR, or CLEVELAND, OHIO i nocnss' or FLANGIVNG SHEET METAL Original applications filed: October 8, 1926, Serial No. 140,362, and March 7, 1928, Serial No. 259,665.

' Dividedand this application filed March 7, 1928.

This invention relates to the flanging of sheet metal, and more- -particularly to a method of formingledge flanges in sheet metal. i i

V "This application division of copending applications'for oorner=die,Serial I N 0. 140,362 filed October 8, 1926,'and for die 1 for flanging sheet metal, Serial N 0. 259,665, filed March 7 1928, and is a continuation in F part ofmy copending-application for process of making flanged sheet metal articles,

" 1 Serial No. 162,482, filed January 21; 1927. r i Previously, toform edge, such asperiphera-l, flanges in sheet metal, for example, in

I the manufacture of table tops, washtub covers, pans and the like, it has been customary gato form such peripheral flanges by a single operation by providing suitable dieapparatus for eachshape and size of article to be formed.

While this'method of manufacture has been satisfactory where the number of articles of aparticular size to be formed has'been sufli- 1 cient to warranttheconstruction of special die. mechanism, said; practice has. been 1n- 5 flexible in operation andhas been too expensive for theflanging of articles of a wide 'rangeof sizes and shapes inany but extreme a A An object of this invention is to provide an i advantageous method of flanging sheet metal.

; Other objects are to-provide an advantageous method for forming edge, such as peripheral, flanges: in sheet metal; to provide a method whereby flanged articles of a wide I variety of'shapes and sizes may be economi "cally manufactured ;f and-to provide for the formation of beaded edges or othersurface configurations simultaneously with the flang- I 40, l 1gOperati0ns.

Other objects ofthe invention will be apparentto'th-ose' skilled in the art from the 'written disclosures herein made and from the appendeddrawings, wherein:

i Y .45. Figure is a plan View of a substantially Serial No. 259,664.

shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the portions intermediate the corner flanges having been flanged and headed whereby to form aperipheral flange and peripheral beaded edge;

Fig. 5 1s a Fig. 6 1s a fragmentary vertical section taken on line 66 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a sheet metal blank having a corner flange formed therein, said flange having a depending portion and a lateral portion;

fragmentary vertical section taken on l1 ne55 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 8 isa fragmentary vertical section taken on line 88 of Fig. 7

F 1g. 9 is a plan View of sheet metal having four corner flanges formed therein, said flanges together forming a substantiallyrectangularperipheral flange; Fig. 10 1s a fragmentary plan view of sheet metal having end flanges of irregular shape formed therein Fig. 11 is a fragmentary plan view of sheet metal having substantially rectangular end flanges formed therein, each end flange compr sing a pair'of corner flanges;

Fig. 12 is a plan View of sheet metal having substantially. rectangular end flanges formed therein, said. end flanges together forming a substantially rectangular peripheral flange;

Fig. 13 is a plan view of sheet metal having a pair of partially peripheral curved flanges formed therein, said flanges together formrectangular sheet metal article having a deformed simultaneously with a beaded ing a substantially elliptical peripheral flange; and V Fig. 1-1 is a plan view of sheet metal haying diverging side's, end flanges of IlOll-LllllIlIOI'lTl size being'formed therein. I In this application, the term curved flange will be understood to includeflanges of either regular or irregular contour and. flanges having straight portions, as well as flanges having to or more ad acent straight portions angularly disposed.

My invention contemplates prlmarily the formation in sheet metal or a continuous edge flange, the iormationof said flange including the step of forming. a partially peripheral curvedflange My inventiomof course, may be carried out in various ways, certain of which will be described hereinafter In tioned copending applications Serial. Nos. 140,362 and 259,665, may be advantageously employed. n V 'One advantageous application of my 1nvention is in the formation of a substantially pending peripheral flange, such as, for. example, a table 7 I flange 1 may beformed in a substantially reotangular sheet metal blank 2 (Fig. 1). .An excess metal portion 3 (Fig. 3) may be sub sequently removed as by shearing. It is frequently convenient to employ'a sheet or otherwise suitably shaped, to avoid. the formation of excess metal portions. By suitable die apparatus, a corner flange 5 may be edge portion 6, as in Fig.2, or a corner flange such as 7 (Figs-7 and 8), having a depending portion 8 and a lateral portion 9 may be formed in theblank 10. The cross-sectional shape of the first corner flange (Figs. 5, 6, and

' may thus be of Widely varying character,

wellknown apparatus whereby to complete and is not limited, to the specific examples given. The depending-portion of a fla maybe bent, of course, to any desired angle to the plane of the sheet metal blank.

Subsequently to the tormationof. the first corner flange, as discussed in the previous paragraph, the remaining corner flanges may be formed, together with beaded port-ions, as ndicated in F1g..3. Unflangedportions 11 and.12 intermediate the corner flanges 5 may 5 then be formed subsequently by any suitable the formation of a peripheral flange 13'and peripheral beaded portion 1 1, as shown in Fig.4. The order of the steps outlined For the formation of the flange 18 may, of course, be varied. Thus, two corner flanges may be formed,,an intermediate portion 11 or 12 flanged, anothercorner flange 5 formed, etc. However, I find it convenient to form the four corner flanges and then subsequently to fflanges 18 mg any unflangedintermediate portions bees. I In Fig. 11 the 7 top. Thus, a depending corner metal blanklhavmg rounded corners, as in F1g. 2,

flanges, though my invention is not limited to I this sequence of steps.

In certain cases, the sheetmetal l5 and a corner flange 16 formed therein (Fig. 9') may hear such relation to each other as to size that no intermediate unflan ed portions will remain after the formation ofthe corner flanges in the sheet metal. Thus, the corner flanges 16 (Fig. 9) are shown as mutually overlapping as indicated by the arrows 16 46,

whereby itfis obvious that a peripheral'flange is formed merely by the formation of the corner flanges 16. Beaded edge portions 17 may be formed simultaneously with'th'ej corner flanges 16-. i

cle may be formed; by 'fOrmingQthe corner (Fig. 11) and subsequently flang tween said corner flang corner flanges at eachend of the sheet metal blank 19 are shownfas of'such size, as indicated by the arrows ,18-18, as'to form the continuous. end flange 20, the corner flanges 18 for this purpose abut-ting, or. overlapping as indicated.

.: 1.Instead of'forming corner flanges, I may find it convenient to form end flanges each. n e .including' more than one corner. Thus, in yFig- 12 I haveshownathe end flanges 21 formed'inithe sheetmetal blank 22. f The said. end flangesmay abut,:or may overlap, as in p b g dicatedby the arrows 21%2'1, ,to form t'oj gether a'peripheral flange. Where the sheet 39 it "metaliis relatively long, any unflanged por ;tions intermediate the end flanges'2 1 may be subsequently flanged. I j

Whiletheabove specific. illustrations have V related to rectangular sheet metal articles, it .is obvious thatmy invention applies likewise to'theformation of sheet metal articles of any "polygonal shape. The sides of the corner flanges may be disposed atany desiredangle' to each other and the endgflanges may, ingen- 'era l, include any desired number of corners. --The "partially peripheral curved flanges contemplated by this invention furthermore qmay beof regular or irregular shape and may .i'njclude straight and/orjcurved portions. In Fig. Ifhave illustrated the formation of end flanges of irregular shape, the end flanges 28 being shown as formed in. the sheet metalblank 24. The unflanged portions 25 intermediate the end flanges 23 may beflanged,

so I V A relatively long and narrow flanged arti- 1 tit desired, to complete tlie formation of a pe-1 i ripheral flange. In certain cases, of course;

the endflanges'23 may abut or overlap in the manner shown infFig."12'toformby themj selves a completely peripheral flange. I In Fig. 14 .I have illustrated the flan'gingof a sheet metal blank 26 having divergent sides, i said sheet metal having formed therein't-he non-uniformly sized curved end flanges 27,

and 28. Suitable die apparatus may be pro- Vided for the formation of each of end Unflanged edge portions interme flanges. diate the end flanges may be flanged to com- .plete aperipheral flange.

, In Fig. 13 I have illustrated the formation f of a substantially elliptical article, the peripheral flange 29 comprisingthe overlap- I ping end flanges .30.

InF1gs. 10 to 14, inclusive,- the articles illustrated are shown'as having beadededge portions associated with the flanges,- which beaded portions maybe omitted'or not, as deslred.

The foregoing examples illustrate certain cfl of the applications of my invention to the formation of flanged articles. Thearticle'to be formed may embody a completely peripheral flangeor a flange of less than peripheral extent. My invention, furthermore, is not limited toarticles of any particular size or shape.

flanges, articles ofa Wide variety of shapes 7 Y and sizes may be formed. -My invention thus lendsitself to the economical production of 'relatively small quantities, of articles of a givensize,as well -as to larger scale produc tion. 3

Furthermore, it to be understood that the particular forms of apparatus shown and described, and the particular procedure set forth, are presented for purposes of explanation and illustration and that various modificatio-ns of said apparatus and procedure can be made without departing from my invention as defined inthe appended claims.

- ,lVhat I claim is 1. The method of forming a sheet metal article having a completely peripheral depending flange, which comprises forming a depending cornerflange in a piece of sheet metal, forming additional depending corner .flanges, and forming depending flanges intermediate said corner flanges to thereby form a completely peripheral depending;

i g .8. In the formation of'a polygonal flange flange.

ticles having depending peripheral flanges,

the steps which comprise forming a depending-- corner flange in sheet metal, forming a second depending corner flange in said sheet metal, and subsequently forming a depending flange lntermedlate sa d corner flanges where 'b to form a continuous dependin flan 'e. c

. l b b The method of forming a sheet metal article having a continuous peripheral depending flange requiring no trimming, which method comprises formmga depending corner flange in apiece of sheet metal having rounded corners, formlng additlonaldepending corner flanges, and forming depending flanges intermediate said corner flanges/f smooth depending 2.. In the manufacture of sheet metal 'ar-' 4..-,The methodof forming fa completely peripheral depending flange and beaded edge in sheet metal which comprises forming a depending-- corner flange in said sheet metal and simultaneously forming a corner beaded portion, forming additional depending corner flanges and corner beaded portions, and

forming depending flanges and beaded edges intermediate said corner flanges and cornerbeaded portions. I

5. The methoduof forming a sheet metal :artic-le having a continuous peripheralbeaded edge and continuous peripheral depending ange requiring no trimming, which method comprisesforming simultaneously a depending corner flange and corner beaded portion in apiece of sheet metal having rounded corners, formingadditional depending corner flanges and corner beaded portions, and forming depending flanges and beaded edges intermediate said corner flanges and corner beaded portions.

6. The method of forming a substantially rectangular sheet metal article having a completely peripheral flange and a peripheral beaded portion,

which comprises forming in a substantially rectangular piece of sheet metal a smooth depending rectangular corner flange, simultaneously forming a corner beaded portion, forming in successive operations three more rectangular depending corner flanges and corner beaded portions, and subsequently forming depending flanges and beaded portions intermediate said corner flanges where by to form a smooth completely peripheral depending flange and a peripheral beaded portion.

7. The method of forming a sheet metal article having a completely peripheral depending flange which comprises forming by a single operation a depending corner flange in a piece of sheet metal, in like manner forming additional corner flanges in said sheet metal, and subsequently flanging the portions intermediate said corner flanges to form a completely peripheral depending in sheet metal, the steps of forming in said sheet metal a partially peripheral curved flange including at least one corner, and subsequently forming in said sheet metal another mation of a completely peripheral flange in said sheet metal.

10. In the formation of a completely peripheral flange in sheet metal, the: steps of forming in said sheet metal a plurality of partially peripheral curved flanges, and flanging' any unflanged portions therebetween to complete the formation of a completely peripheralflange in said sheet metal. v

' 11. In the formation of a continuous flange in sheet metal, forming in said sheet metal a plurality of flanges arranged to prodluce together a continuous flange of greater linear o extent than any of the component flanges, at"

least one of said component flanges being a partially peripheral curved flange.

In testimony whereof I affixmy signature.

JAMES A. MoGREGOB. 

